Cristina Torre takes after her father.
One-year-old Dillin Miller crawled out of a fire escape and came dangerously close to falling through an open awning. The daughter of Joe Torre, a former all-star catcher and four-time World Series champion as manager of the Yankees, stayed calm and collected as she talked to the baby and prepared for the worst.
"He looked like he was balancing on one of the railings," Torre told the Daily News. "I didn't really know what was going to happen," she told the New York Daily News. "You just move into action - you don't really think about it."
She said she told the baby to stay where he was while another bystander called 911. Torre was have a cup of coffee around 10 a.m. at a cupcake shop on Third Ave. when she spotted the baby on the fire escape of a neighboring building. She prepared as if he would fall, but tried to get him to go back inside.
"I'm talking to him saying, 'Don't come down, stay there,'" she said. "He helped himself with his arms. He was dangling. I knew he would be flipping very soon."
Dillin fell, but Torre was ready and the baby landed right into her arms. Bystanders erupted in cheering for the baseball legend's daughter.
"He literally landed in my arms," she said. "It was a relief. I'm just glad he was safe."
Like her father, Cristina acted calmly in a tense situation and succeeded when she needed to. Joe Torre said he was "very proud" of his daughter.
"You're happy to hear that your child is doing well. When you realize that she has helped somebody else do well, that puts the cherry on top," he said.
Dillin hurt his mouth but sustained no serious injuries. When he was safe, numerous on-lookers hugged and thanked the baby's rescuer.
"The baby was shaken," Kristen Bramsen, 48, said. "Everyone was going up to the woman and hugging her. I hugged her."
The baby's parents were taken into police custody after their home was found to have numerous health hazards, no food in the house and no bedding for the Dillin and his two older sisters. Sam and Tiffany, the parents, were asleep the whole time.
They were charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child and their children will be placed in the care of the city's Child Services.
Cristina said she was in shock, but walked away smiling.